The invention relates to an angioplasty light guide catheter.
The use of laser beams for the treatment of stenoses was proposed more than 25 years ago. Although this method too, in addition to the known balloon dilatation, permits treatment without surgical intervention and from the start was very promising, the opening of stenosed vessels using laser light has nevertheless scarcely progressed beyond the experimental stage. An important reason for this is that no suitable catheter was available which permitted an accurate positioning of the light guides in the vessel. Nor has a solution hitherto been found to the risk of dissection of the vessel wall.
An angioplasty light guide catheter is known in which the laser light is bundled with lenses. An angioplasty light guide catheter is also known from an article in the periodical Herz+Gefass 5 (1985) page 185, FIG. 5, in which three concentrically arranged laser light guides can be held in the vessel stable against the wall by means of a balloon. In this catheter too, an accurate positioning and control of the laser light is not possible, and the risk of dissection is relatively high. In this case there is also the disadvantage that, with a catheter with a wall-stable laser light guide, severe occlusions cannot be treated successfully. In the case of such severe occlusions, a catheter with a centrally arranged light guide, as is known from the periodical JACC Volume 8 (5), November 1986; 1989-95 (FIG. 1), would be better suited.